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Cornell University Library
DS 102.P15 V.5 no.3
Pilgrimage of Joannes ^•'9,??,?,, .S .,{[!? .I'll
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http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028534331
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THE PILGRIMAGE
OF
JOANNES PHOCAS
HOLY LAND
(In the Year 1185 a.d.).
i;r«naiateli bj)
LONDON
I, ADAM STREET, ADELPHI.
1889.
fl^
It is proposed to take the pamphlets of Phocas, Theodoricus, and
John of Wurzburg together, and to edit them as a description of
Jerusalem and the Holy Land in the latter part of the twelfth century.
The translation of Phocas is issued in advance the notes on the
;
narratives of the three writers will appear with the last pamphlet
issued. — C. W. W.
THE PREFACE OF LEO ALLATIUS.
name . .
.'
A BRIEF DESCRIPTION,
BY
JOANNES PHOCAS,
OF THE CASTLES AND CITIES, FROM THE CITY OF ANTIOCH
EVEN UNTO JERUSALEM ALSO OF SYRIA AND
;
that I shall give them less pleasure than that which has
its seat in their eyes. What, then, does my book aim at ?
Those persons who have never beheld with their eyes
these most excellent places, but who frequently meet with
mention of them, will, I imagine, be more distinctly
taught by my book than by those which speak of them
without defining what they are. It ought also to be more
likely to afford some pleasure even to those who have
and upon one side joins the crag Scopelus, and on the
other the hill called Caucasus. ||
The river Orontes runs in
* Beit el-Ma, about five miles from Antioch.
t This is not the great Simon Stylites, but a man of the same name
v/ho was born at Antioch, and lived for 45 years on a pillar erected on
a hill called ' the wonderful (ro dnvnaarbv), novi Mar Sinian between
'
II
Evidently a corruption of Mons Casius,yiffe/ O^r'a. Scopelus is
the promontory Rhosicus Scopulus, Jias el-Khanzirj and Roso the town
or district of Rhosus, Arsus.
JOANNES PHOCAS.
countless meandering curves round the base of this moun-
tain, and then discharges its waters into the sea. It was
ravines and hollows many rivers gush forth into the sea,
beauteous and excessively cold at the time when the snow
is melting, and chills the streams which feed them. At
the foot of this mountain is Tripolis, which was built by
its founder upon a peninsula ; for a small spur, branching
out from Libanus, runs out into the sea in the shape of a
tongue, rising high at its eastern end. Upon the summit
of this rising ground the builder of the city laid its founda-
tions. The city is of the very smallest with regard to the
extent of ground that it covers, but is worthy of ad-
miration for the height of its walls and the beauty of its
buildings.
V. Next comes Zebelett; and then comes Berytus,J a
large and populous city, set round about with spacious
meadows, and adorned with a fair harbour. The harbour
is not a natural one, but has been wrought by art, and is
* Compare '
Abbot Daniel,' Ixxxv.
harbour and outer harbour, you will find the reality exactly
agreeing with the description given in his writings. Outside
the city, at a distance of about three bow-shots, stands a
church, surrounded by a colonnade of great length, upon
the upper part of the apse whereof is placed a four-sided
stone, whereon, according to the report of the vulgar,
Christ the Saviour of the world used to stand and teach
the multitude.
VII. After Sidon stands the fortress of Saraphtha,t built
upon the very beach of the sea, and in the midst of the
city a church dedicated to the prophet Ehas is built
upon the site of the house of the widow who showed him
hospitality.
VIII. After this comes the city of Tyre, which surpasses
in beauty almost all the cities of Phoenicia it is built,
:
the holy Apostles Peter and John into the city to buy
bread : they went away, brought it, and set out together
with the Saviour to the neighbouring fountain, distant
about one mile, where, the Saviour sat down, and after
having eaten with the Apostles, and drunk of the water.
He blessed the and in truth the fountain
fountain ;
* Sepphoris, Seffurieh.
t Apparently Kefr Kenna.
% That is, from the conception of John the Baptist.
JOANNES PHOCAS. 13
1 JOANNES PHOCAS.
Elizabeth, his mother. On each side of the prison are
stored up the remains of various saints and of the disciples
of the Forerunner. Above the prison stands a church,
wherein have been placed two coffins, wrought of white
marble, whereof the one on the right-hand contains the
dust of the burned body* of the venerable Forerunner,
the other the body of the prophet Elisseus and above, in ;
which afterwards
Sichar, the chief city of the Samaritans,
was called Neapolis,t lying between two hills, upon the
lower parts of each whereof its foundations encroach for
a considerable distance. Of these mountains, that on the
right-hand, j according to the Samaritans, is that whereon
God talked with Abraham and demanded Isaac in sacri-
fice, and hereon, according to their tradition, the patriarch
consummated the sacrifice, albeit they know not what
they say ; mountain is the rocky Golgotha,
for that holy
upon which the Saviour endured His passion for the
salvation of the world. At the foot of this hill is the
* dvoTefpiaQde. Nablus. % Mount Gerizim.
-f
JOANNES PHOCAS. 17
1 JOANNES PHOCAS.
small cell and two bosses
surrounded by an iron railing,
Probatica, close to the Church of St. Anne, which has recently been
discovered.
JOANNES PHOCAS. 21
J Capsula, dKifivohov.
JOANNES PHOCAS.
from the desert. On the top of the Mount is the place
where our Saviour often conversed with His disciples after
His Resurrection, and where afterwards He wrought that
most sublime miracle, His Ascension. Near this, in a
grotto below,may be seen the place wherein St. Pelagia
performed her ascetic labours, and wherein her blessed
body now rests in a stone cof&n. Near this is another
church, where our Lord gave His disciples the prayer
'
Our Father.' On the left side of the city is a monastery
% T^c Tov Pot//3d ipnfiov. See Abbot Daniel xxxviii. and note.
'
'
§ Vid.
Soph. Diet., s.v. KovKovfiog. Apparently the monument known
as Absalom's pillar.
JOANNES PHOCAS. 23
24 JOANNES PHOCAS.
holy fathers whose light has shone in the wilderness, and
among them those of the ancient poets, SS. Cosmas and
John.* Here are nearly forty inspired men, eminent
beyond all others, of whom six converse directly with
God, names being Stephanus, Theodorus, Paulus
their
the fourth comes from Megalopolis, the fifth is a Spaniard,
and the sixth is Joannes Stylita, celebrated among man-
kind for his spiritual insight.
XVII. Returning, then, to the Holy City, not by the
valley, but across the neighbouring mountain-ridge, at a
distance of six miles from it, you will find the monastery
of our holy father Theodosius the Coenobiarch.f This
monastery is encircled by various towers, and about an
arrow-shot in frorit of it is the chamber in which, as we
read in his '
Life,' extinguished coals were lighted in the
saint's hand. In the midst of the monastery, on a rising
ground, stands the church, which has a circular roof, and
beneath it a grotto, in which tomb of the saint, and
is the
adjoining it several chambers, in which He the relics of
great saints. When you descend the steps into this
grotto you will find on the side of it the mouth of another
grotto, into which the disciple of Saint Basilius entered,
and, at the saint's bidding, chose his own tomb, as we
are told in the Lives of the Fathers, lay dead therein, and
* This
thought to mean John of Damascus.
is Le M^nologe que '
JOANNES PHOCAS. 25
t Khurbet Mird.
% Deir el-Kelt. See Abbot '
Daniel,' xxvii.
26 JOANNES PHOCAS.
XX. After this comes a and very rough
long, narrow,
road, leading to the back of the wilderness, before you
come to which you see in the midst of it two mountains,
between which the road to Jericho passes on this road :
30 JOANNES PHOCAS.
Egyptian lady.* Beyond the hills is the wilderness leading
to Sinai, and Rhaetho, and the Red Sea. Here endeth
my discourse about the wilderness.
XXVI. On the right-hand side of the Holy City of
Jerusalem, in the direction of the Tower of David, there
is a hill covered with vines, and on the lower part thereof
a monastery of Spanish monks, within the circuit of which
it is said that the wood for the glorious Cross was cut.
Beyond this begins the mountain region, very properly so-
wherein is the sacred grotto and the manger, and the well
from which David desired to drink; and a. church of great
length is to be seen, built upon the top of the grotto it is ;
right elbow, and leaning her cheek upon her right hand
as she looks at her infant, showing her innate modesty in
her smiling expression and in the colour of her cheeks ; for
her colour is not changed, nor is she pale, like one who
has recently borne a child, and that for the first time ; for
shewho was thought worthy to bear a child who was more
than man must also have been spared the pains of child-
birth. Beyond her are the ox and the ass, the manger
and the babe, and the company of shepherds in whose
ears the voice of Heaven rang so that they left their flocks,
allowing their sheep to pasture unwatched upon the grass
beside the spring, giving their dog charge of them, while
they raised their necks heavenwards, listening eagerly to
the sound of the voice, standing in various attitudes, as
each thought that he could stand most easily ; their shep-
herds' crooks appear useless, but their eyes are fixed
upon Heaven, and drawing their right hands backwards
as if to hurl a dart, they eagerly strain their ears : yet they
did not need to hear the voice a second time, since eyes
are more trustworthy than ears-, for an angel meeting
them shows them the babe lying in the manger. The beasts
do not turn round to behold this sight, but stupidly betake
34 JOANNES PHOCAS.
Ruba, in the monastery of St. Chariton,* and at a con-
siderable distance beyond tomb of Abra-
it, is the double
ham, which is in Hebron, and the oak of Mamre, beneath
which the patriarch Abraham entertained the holy Three.
This is the description (of the holy places) from Ptolemais
through Galilee, as far as Jerusalem, the Holy City, the
Jordan, and the holy wilderness. Those on the sea-coast
are as follows : —
XXIX. At a distance of about six miles from Jerusalem,
the Holy City, is the city of Armathem,t wherein the great
prophet Samuel was born ; and at a distance of about
seven miles, or rather more, beyond it, is the large city of
Emmaus,t built upon a rising ground in the midst of a
valley. Here for about four-and-twenty miles extends
the country of Ramplea,§ wherein may be seen a very great
church of the great and holy martyr George. ||
Here also
was he born, and did great works for holiness, and here,
too, is his blessed tomb. The church is oblong, and in
the apse, under the place of the holy table, one sees the
mouth of his sepulchre, faced all round with white marble.
It is worth while to tell what I heard from the priests of
this church as to what took place a few years ago at the
tomb of the saint. They said that the present intruded
Bishop of the Latin rite ventured to open the mouth of
the sepulchre, and that when the marble slab which closed
it was taken away there was disclosed a large grotto, on
the inner side of which was found the tomb of the saint
when, however, he endeavoured to open this also, fire was
seen to flash forth from the sepulchre, and left one of the
men half burned and another burned to death.
*
Charison
' in the Latin translation.
' Khurbet el-Khureitun,
between the Frank Mountain and Tekoa.
t Nebi Samwil. % 'Amwas. %^Ramleh.
The Church of St. George^at. Lydda, Ludd.
II
JOANNES PHOCAS. 35
t Haifa.
36 JOANNES PHOCAS.
this, my child, return to me who begat it, and by its
THE END.
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